5 Things to Consider Before Your College Goes Solar

Colleges considering solar energy to power campus should check state regulations. This is because state regulations often dictate how, where and when solar panels can be installed on campus. They also provide guidelines on how to manage a campus’s solar power, such as where and how to handle extraneous electricity. State regulations also guide end users towards other opportunities that can benefit the school, such as net metering (which “is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid;” provided by SEIA).

Before going solar, colleges should consider what financial benefits they can gain from their investments. Some solar power programs provide incentives in property tax programs, and can even increase property value. Solar power can also help colleges cut their electric bills in half – one example of this is Stonehill College, which went solar back in 2014.

Stonehill used 15,974,455 kilowatts per hour in electricity back in FY13; that racked the college’s electric bill up to $2,002,551. However, its 15-acre solar field will eventually save the college over $185,000 per year, and up to $3.2 million over the course of its 15-year contract with Marina Energy.

Some solar companies and government regulations enable end users to participate in purchasing plans when deploying solar. These agreements involve a third party developer who owns, operates and maintains the photovoltaic system, and an end user agrees to host that system on a roof or another location on his or her property. Through this arrangement, the end user buys the system’s power output for a set period of time. These arrangements often enable end users the opportunity to purchase electricity at a lower cost and minimize their electricity bill, while the solar service provider gains tax credits and other income from the end user’s purchases.

Information provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Prior to installing solar, colleges need to calculate how much power they currently consume, and how much they will need to power certain sections of campus. The amount of facilities and how frequently power is consumed will affect how much power a college will need. For example, Stonehill College only needed 2.7 megawatts to power part of its campus, whereas Arizona State University needed 15.76 megawatts to power buildings, boilers, and other systems across its four campuses.

Pictured is the Tyler Street Parking Garage at Arizona State University.

Even though solar panels are typically seen sitting on rooftops, end users can decide to put them in other places on campus, especially if one location is more cost-effective than another. Some schools might opt for a solar field design, where the panels are constructed on a larger piece of campus real-estate. Other schools might build parking canopies that function as a garage for student parking, and a place to install solar panels.